Big Brother is not retreating to 18th century

3:57 PM,
Feb. 5, 2014

Written by

Gene Lyons

Let's cut to the chase: If Big Brother wants you, he's got you, telephone metadata notwithstanding. This disconcerting fact of modern life has been true more or less since the invention of the camera, the microphone and the tape recorder.

The same GOP that rationalized torture and cheered the Bush administration's use of warrantless wiretaps as recently as 2006 now denounces the National Security Agency's "Section 215" bulk collection of telephone data as "an invasion into the personal lives of American citizens that violates the right of free speech and association afforded by the First ...